This invention relates to service centers and, more particularly, describes a method for consolidating various types of information from multiple sources into a single, coherent presentation.
Service centers and telephone service centers, also called call centers, are used for telephone sales, marketing, collections, customer service and customer inquiry. A call center typically has a plurality of agents who staff a plurality of agent data terminals and who communicate with the customer via telephone and other media, such as letters, facsimile (fax), and electronic mail (e-mail). The communication may be initiated by the call center (an outbound call) or may be initiated by the customer (an inbound call). Examples of call centers which accommodate both inbound and outbound calls are shown in the following U.S. Pat. Nos.: 4,797,911; 4,894,857; 5,070,525; 5,214,688; and 5,309,505.
However, a single information source, such as a host, database, server, or other information source, may not have all the information on a customer, or the latest information on a customer. It is possible to sequentially access multiple information sources so as to obtain the desired information. However, the agent must know which information source to access and how to access the desired information. This process is inefficient because the information sources are frequently incompatible and the information from one information source cannot be directly used to gain more information from another information source. Rather, the agent must often write down the information from one information source and manually enter the information to gain the additional information from the second information source. In addition to the time that this manual procedure requires, errors can occur, both in writing down the information and in entering the information. The result is that the agent is limited to only a single information source application if rapid processing is desired, or the agent must manually record and enter the information if multiple information sources are used.
Therefore, there is a need for a method and an apparatus which allow the agent to obtain the desired information from a plurality of information sources quickly and automatically, regardless of whether that information is in the form of text, fax, graphics, images, e-mail, video, audio, or some other media.
Another difficulty with using multiple information sources and applications is that there is generally no consistency among the application programs as to the screen display, formats, images, or even the function keys used for information processing or manipulation. For example, there is no consistency, from application program to application program, as to where, or even if, in a customer record the following information will be located: the customer name, the customer address, the customer account number, a picture, a signature, etc. As a result, an agent will often have to visually inspect each field in the record to determine what information is in that field and whether it is the desired information. This slows down the agent and increases the likelihood of an error, for example, the agent entering or retrieving the data in a similar-looking, but incorrect, field. Similarly, from screen to screen, the function keys may initiate different tasks, or the same task may appear on different function keys. This leads to frustration, delays, errors, and a general loss of efficiency.
Therefore, there is a need for a method and an apparatus which present a uniform set of screens for the agent and which automatically accesses, in the background, the correct field in a record on the desired information source when an item of information is desired.
There is also a need for a method and an apparatus which, from screen to screen, and from information source to information source, present uniform and consistent data manipulation icons to the agent.
Even if multiple hosts can be conveniently accessed by the agent the agent must sometimes query one host to obtain a first item of information, use this first item of information to query a second host to obtain a second item of information, use this second item of information to query a third host, and so on. This is a time consuming process and leads to low agent efficiency. Further, the agent must know the proper sequence of accessing the hosts or the agent will not have the necessary information on hand when accessing an application and, therefore, will not be able to obtain the needed information from the host.
Therefore, there is a need for a method and an apparatus for automatically accessing a plurality of information sources in a manner and in the order necessary to obtain the desired information.
Agents interact with customers/clients on the telephone and there is typically some information associated with that customer. For example, on an outbound call, the call record usually has a minimum of the customer name, customer telephone number, and how to contact the customer. In addition, there may be a detailed history or various other information about the customer. All of this information may assist the agent in providing the desired service to the customer while the agent is on the telephone with the customer.
In a client-server system, there are numerous information sources where the agent can obtain information about the customer. For example, a mainframe owned by the user, information from a credit bureau, or an image server showing pictures of products or customers, or signatures of customers, etc. Other information may be residing in data bases on a network or in other places, some of which may be remote and only accessible via modem. Such information could be a text form, an image form, a graphics form, or in another different media type. These different information sources are typically not compatible with each other and, further, have no common method of information display. Of course, the agent may be able to xe2x80x9chot keyxe2x80x9d from one application to another application so as to sequentially communicate with several different information sources and view all of the desired information. In some cases, the agent may have to quit the current application program and launch another application program to get information about that customer. In cases where there is not a xe2x80x9cshop licensexe2x80x9d for the application program, an application program may be installed on some agent stations, but not installed on others. Therefore, one agent might have to transfer the customer to another agent who has the necessary application program.
Also, consider the case where the user has a mainframe information source, with multiple Legacy(trademark) applications where the applications have a dumb terminal interface. The user may want to upgrade to a different mainframe or different application programs so as to be able to store more information, or more types of information, etc. In the past, the user had two choices: pay someone to re-enter the data for the new applications program, and take the chance that data may be lost and/or incorrectly entered; or simply forego the use of the old application/database and the information stored therein. The mainframe applications are costly and extremely time consuming to change or create from scratch. The user therefore often has a substantial investment in the applications and the data stored under those applications so the user will not want to lose that investment.
In order to provide quality service to the customer the agent may need to have access to some or all of the information, regardless of whether a Legacy(trademark) application and/or some other application is being used, and regardless of the media type associated with that information. Further, the information should be presented to the agent in a consistent format so that the agent does not have to visually scan the screen trying to find the desired information.
Therefore, there is a need for a system which provides a uniform set of screens to the agent. That is, a system which combines and presents various types of desired or required information, regardless of the media, from various information sources to the agent in such a way that the screen displays appear to the agent as if provided by a single system. The fact that several information sources may be involved in providing the desired information displayed on the screen is not apparent to the agent, regardless of the physical platforms on which the information resides, or where these platforms are located,.
In the past, the agent had to manage multiple information sources by using a different screen or image for each source, and using various function keys, in order to obtain the desired information. For example, the dialer would obtain call record information from the host and would provide an initial screen to the agent. Then, if the agent needed additional information to service the customer then, typically, the agent would press a xe2x80x9chotkeyxe2x80x9d, which would cause the agent""s station to switch from the view provided by the dialer to a view provided as an emulation of a dumb terminal connected to the host. The agent would then see the screen provided by that information source or application. The agent could hotkey back and forth between the host and dialer screens as necessary. The agent or the station program could also cut and paste between screens, in the background, so that if the agent obtained the account number from the dialer screen the agent could hotkey, with the account number, to the screen provided by the host, tab or index over to the account number field on the view provided by the host application, and then insert the account number into that field on the host application and thereby cause the host to bring up and display the associated account record. If there are multiple host applications involved then there are multiple function keys, each hotkey invoking a different one of those applications. The agent therefore saw a different image each time that the agent was communicating with a different host. Each image that the agent saw, and the data that the agent saw, was at the discretion of the programmer who originally wrote that application and decided what information was to be presented on that screen, and in what format. To properly service a customer, the agent would have to go to different applications, or different pages within an application, to find the data or the necessary or desired information. Even then, some or most of the data fields presented may not be relevant to the problem that the agent is attempting to address.
Similarly, the agent may need to enter certain information into the various information sources and applications. Again, the agent has, in the past, had to hotkey between various applications so as to enter the information into different information sources, or the station entered the information only into a single host application program. This can lead to errors, where the agent does not type in exactly the same information into each information source, omissions, where the agent forgets to update an information source, and substantial losses in time and efficiency where multiple hosts and/or application programs must be updated individually.
It is well known to link similar programs together, such as over a network. An example of such is a company spreadsheet which must reflect the status of several departments. Each department may have its own spreadsheet, and the company spreadsheet will be linked to selected items, such as income, expenses, net profit, etc., in each department spreadsheet. Thus, a change in the spreadsheet in any department will automatically update the company spreadsheet when it is opened. However, the application programs running the various spreadsheets must be identical or designed to be compatible, something which cannot always be assured when working with, for example, a department purchased from a different company. That department may use computers and/or spreadsheet application programs which are not compatible with the computers and/or spreadsheets of the company. Likewise, in a call center, the different sources of information may use different computers and application programs, and may be incompatible. Therefore, there is a need for a method whereby information from various sources, even those which are mutually incompatible, is consolidated and presented in a uniform manner.
To be useful, a process must be simple to use. Therefore, most of the operation of the process must be transparent to the agent. That is, the agent must not need to know what host to access, what information to obtain, or the order of accessing the hosts.
Therefore, there is a need for a method for consolidating information from multiple sources into a single, user-definable, coherent set of screens.
There is also a need for a method for sequentially linking information sources so that an entry or an information update into a single information source, via a user defined and customized set of screens and/or information fields, automatically accesses related data or information in other sources, even when the information needed to access those other sources is not known to the agent.
There is also a need for a method which allows an agent to update an information item in all relevant information sources without the agent having to hotkey between applications, or individually select the information sources for updating. This method should run in the background so that a change in an information item on user customized screens, automatically updates all of the relevant sources.
Another limitation of the prior art is that the access time for some sources is quite long, easily reaching several seconds, and sometimes even more. When the agent switches to any such slow source to obtain information there will be a noticeable time lag while that slow source responds to the query and provides the desired information. This time lag reduces agent efficiency. This time lag may also be irritating to the customer who must wait until the slow source has provided the requested information to the agent. This time lag can be especially distressing to a customer if the agent must access several slow sources in order to obtain all of the information necessary to service the customer. Therefore, there is a need for a method to eliminate this delay time.
The present invention provides a method and an apparatus which allows the agent to obtain the desired information from a plurality of information sources quickly and automatically through the user customized application program.
The present invention provides a method and an apparatus which automatically accesses various types of information (voice, fax, image, audio, etc.) from specified sources when an item of information is desired.
The present invention provides a method and an apparatus for automatically accessing a plurality of information sources in a manner and in the order necessary to obtain the desired information.
The present invention provides a method and an apparatus which allow a person to quickly and simply define a process and the steps in the process without the need for a skilled computer programmer.
The present invention further provides for a uniform screen/display presentation design by the user, which is independent of the source, the information types, and the application program which is providing the information or which is accepting the data entries and other types of information.
The present invention provides a method for consolidating the information from multiple information sources so as to provide a user-defined, uniform set of screens to an agent. All of the information sources required by application session may be, and preferably are, automatically linked and accessed in a coherent manner, which is defined by the user. Entering a data item into one field of one information source automatically accesses related information from the other information sources thereby eliminating the need for the agent to switch between information sources. Further, the user may present the information from the various information sources in a uniform manner so that a given item of information preferably appears at the same location on the screen, in the form and with the look designated by the user, regardless of the application, the display format that is used by the information source, or the type of information involved (fax, text, image, picture, spread sheet, etc.). This eliminates the need for the agent to search among the different screens and sources to find the desired information. In accordance with the present invention, all desired information from multiple sources is linked and combined into a Single System Image View(trademark) so as to eliminate the need for the agent to directly access these various sources and items of information.
An information source is selected that will provide and/or receive the information and a location on the screen for the information that is selected. Then the record type that is involved is selected. Then, for example, a particular data entry field that is involved is selected. A determination is then made as to which data field from a first information source is to be used to access information in a second information source and that information is then linked from the first information source to the second information source. Then, for example, a determination is made as to how the information obtained from the second source is to be used. Then a determination is made as to whether the desired agent screens have been completely defined and updated with the desired information. If not, then the process is begun again and repeated until all information sources and all desired information have been accessed and displayed as desired. The linking and accessing are not limited to operation on text information, but include operation on other types of media, such as fax, voice, pictures, etc. Therefore, a uniform presentation is provided to the agent, regardless of the media type in which the information is stored or presented.
The present invention allows the user to define objects, such as items, screens, icons, pull-down menus and windows, software buttons, etc. The user can define an object, the appearance of an object, the location of an object, the function of an object, and whether that function is performed automatically or at the initiative of the agent. An object may be defined by the user to access and display a reduced amount of information from one or more sources, if desired. Then, if the agent selects the appropriate button, or icon, or function key, then the present invention will access and display additional information, which is defined by the user and is displayed at the location defined by the user. The user may define a set of screens, and the information displayed will appear on the screen or screens designated by the user.
One aspect of the method of the present invention includes defining a first data entry field, defining a first information source, defining a first data/information item from the first information source to be displayed at the first data entry field, defining a second information source, defining a first data item from the second information source, causing the first data item from the first information source to be used as a key, or index, or data input entry for the first data item of the second information source, defining a second data entry field, and defining a second data item from the second information source to be displayed at the second data entry field.
Another aspect of the method of the present invention includes receiving a data entry item at a first data entry field, sending the data entry as a first data entry item to a first information source, receiving a second data entry item from the first information source, sending the second data entry as a first data entry item to a second information source, receiving a second data entry item from the second information source, and displaying the data entry item.
Another aspect of the method of the present invention includes receiving a data entry item at a first data entry field and sending the data entry item to a first information source, receiving a second data entry item at a second data entry field and sending the second data entry to a second information source.
Another aspect of the method of the present invention includes receiving data entry items at a first set of data entry fields and sending these data entry items to a first information source, and receiving data entry items at a second set of data entry field and sending these data entry items to a second information source.
Another aspect of the method of the present invention includes receiving information from a first source and displaying this information at a user-defined location on a screen, and receiving information from a second source and displaying this information at a user-defined location on a screen.
Another aspect of the method of the present invention includes receiving multiple items of information from a first source and displaying this information at user-defined locations on a screen, and receiving multiple items of information from a second source and displaying this information at a user-defined locations on the same screen or on different screens of a set of screens.
Another aspect of the present invention is that various types of information can be displayed, and received from and sent to different sources. For example, the information may be text with respect to a first source, the information may be graphics with respect to a second source, the information may be facsimile documents with respect to a third source, the information may be video with respect to a fourth source, the information may be audio with respect to a fifth source, and so forth. The information is in the format necessary for communication with the particular source and is displayed on the screen in the location and form defined by the user. Thus the user can select what media type is most useful for providing the information to the agent for the job to be performed, and where and how that information is to be displayed or otherwise provided, such as audio or image information.
Thus, the user can define what information will be displayed on the screen, and on which screen or a set of related screens, where on the screen the information will be displayed, and whether the information is to be sent to a source, received from a source, or both. The user can also define what name or other label will be assigned to the screen display field, regardless of the name that field may have in other applications or information sources. The user can further define where a field is to be sent. For example, a field labeled by the user as: xe2x80x9cPromise to Pay Amountxe2x80x9d may be sent to (written to) source 1, but another field, labeled by the user as xe2x80x9cAddressxe2x80x9d may be sent to source 2, or to both sources 1 and 2, or to any other desired sources. Such distribution of the information is automatic and is transparent to the agent. Therefore, the present invention provides for automatic routing, distribution, and delivery of information to multiple sources.
The user can thus define the xe2x80x9clook and feelxe2x80x9d of the system and therefore the steps or procedures that the agent must learn in order to properly service the customer. The user or administrator thus controls what the agent must know and ensures that the agent does not need to directly access the information sources or have to scroll through the information provided by any information source. The user has defined the information that the agent needs to service the client and that information is immediately and conveniently provided to the agent via a uniform set of screens. This eliminates the time that the agent has wasted, using prior art systems, searching to find the right source of information and scrolling through the information to find the desired item of information.
The present invention thus provides for combining information from various sources into a set of displays which appears as if it comes from only one source. This is sometimes referred to herein as a xe2x80x9cSingle System Image Viewxe2x80x9d(trademark), which is a trademark of Melita International Corporation, Norcross, Ga.
As the present invention provides for combining information from multiple sources into the Single System Image View(trademark) and the agent can see and/or hear the desired information, the present invention further addresses the need to provide for access to additional information from each of the new formed information fields within the Single System Image View.
For example, information from multiple sources may be combined into a new information screen, or set of information screens, called xe2x80x9cCustomer Historyxe2x80x9d. The new screen(s) may typically have one small set of information displayed at all times, such as the most recent payment history of the customer. That information may be from multiple sources as the customer may have several different accounts (credit card 1, credit card 2, car loan 1, car loan 2, mortgage, personal line of credit) with one creditor, such as a bank All of these sources could be important because there could be a delinquency in one account, but not in another account. Note that, in this case, the information for any account may be completely independent of the information for any other account, even for that same customer, and so the information is considered to be coming from multiple sources, even though all of the accounts may be present on, and the information coming from, a single host computer at the bank.
Only a limited amount of information can be displayed on any window or screen, so there is now a requirement for enhanced accessibility to other information. The present invention therefore provides for allowing the agent to view additional information by clicking on a specific field using a mouse, by moving a cursor on the screen to a specific spot or area or field on the screen, or by some other action. For example, if a field is labeled xe2x80x9cCustomer Delinquencyxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9ccustomer Payment Recordxe2x80x9d, then moving the cursor to, or clicking on, or otherwise designating that field will bring up the underlying information associated with that field. Each such field has associated with it a set of user-defined information items and designating that field initiates links to acquire and present those information items. Thus, the action of designating a field automatically brings up a screen, or a set of screens, which has the user-defined information, such as a full account status report or a delinquency report for that customer. This allows the agent to easily and quickly bring up detailed information during the conversation with the customer without the need to directly access each host or application.
This information is acquired and presented to the agent in real-time, that is, while the agent is conversing with the customer, and the information is on-line, that is, the information being presented to the agent and updated by the agent is the current information in the source. The present invention allows the details of each item of information to be specified independently of any other item of information, so information may be acquired real-time and on-line from multiple sources, the information may be received in different protocols, may come from multiple hosts, may be of different media types (fax, text, voice, picture, etc.) ,and may be transferred via different network systems.
The present invention thus: allows the user to define the information that is necessary for the agent to properly and instantly service the customer in different environments, such as sales, collecting information, status inquiries, customer services, etc.; allows the user to define various information windows or fields; allows the user to combine information from multiple sources into a single screen or a coherent set of screens, that is, a Single System Image View(trademark); provides the ability for the agent to read, see (in the case of pictures or graphical representations), hear (in the case of audio information and messages), type, write and deposit information from and to multiple sources; and provides the agent the ability to process and communicate information in different media forms without having to know which application is necessary for any particular media form. The present invention provides the above as part of a program application which may run either in the foreground or in the background, and is transparent to the agent.
The present invention provides a method for instantly providing an agent with information, even when that information must be obtained from a source or sources which have a slow response time. When a list of outbound calls to be placed is created or downloaded, the present invention provides for contacting the desired sources, in advance of or approximately concurrently with, the placement of the outbound calls and requesting user-specified information. This desired information is combined, in the manner specified by the user, and stored in a database, for example in the dialer database. This information may include text, data, and objects, such as pictures and audio. Once an outbound call is answered by a called party and connected to an available agent, then at least some of the information in the dialer database for that outbound call is sent to the agent""s station. The agent""s station then accesses this database to obtain and present the user-specified information for the agent. Thus, when the outbound call is connected to the agent, the agent immediately has the information necessary to service the customer, even when that information was obtained from slow sources. In most cases, the information originally provided will be current, especially if the information was requested approximately concurrently with the placement of the outbound call. However, there will be cases where the information has changed, especially if the information was obtained substantially before the outbound call was placed. In such cases the user may specify that, after the station presents the information from the dialer the station will access the sources which originally provided the information and request that information, so as to assure that the agent has the current information. The station will then present that information to the agent. Thus, the agent is immediately provided with information regarding the customer and is further quickly updated with the current information regarding the customer.
Other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon reading the following description of the preferred embodiment, when taken in conjunction with the drawings and the claims.